Restaurants: Nicoresti
Nicoresti is far from being a fancy, classy, pretentious and dress-code worthy restaurant. The one thing you think about when going there is food! Why? Elementary, because the food is delicious and you can find dishes that are hard to come by in other locations. Not because they are to hard to prepare, on the contrary, but because others chefs tend to ignore them.
The restaurant is always full, makes no difference if it's day, night, weekend or non-weekend. So full that it needs three sections to cover the demand (four if we count the terrace but brr... obviously it's closed at the present). The first section is the one at "ground level", the oldest one out of the four (there was another section of the restaurant over the road, but in time, it was abandoned).
Second compartment is on the first floor, recently opened and looking brand new.
The third and final compartment is the wine cellar in the basement, where, since it is not a wine cellar in the truest sense of the word, you can eat, drink wine, palinca or must, just like in any other part of the restaurant.
So... if you want to revel in the feeling of "old Nicoresti" we recommend the older section, if you want to enjoy a fresh elegant atmosphere, where everything looks shiny and brand new, you can go upstairs, and if you want to feel the dark, cozy warmth of a basement, while enjoying a glass of must, try the wine cellar. All the sections are great, and the menu is the same, only the way in is different.
The restaurant is specialized in traditional romanian cuisine and the decorations are appropriate, meaning clay bowels, animals furs (ok, the bear freaked us out a little :) ), linens. A bit to many for our tastes, but it didn't break the (negative) record set by Terasa Doamnei.
The serving is remarkably prompt. The food arrives quickly, and the waiters are very pleasant. If you don't get to finish what's on your plate, we've seen a lot of people taking home a "doggie bag". It's a pleasant atmosphere, familiar and not at all uptight.
What can you eat here? You can start with zacusca or bean paste (4 RON), with a sheppard's buls (9 RON), mamaliga with cheese and cream (9 RON), fried squash (6 RON) or leek stew with olives (6 RON).
From the pages of "things you don't find everywhere" - chapter soups - we bring you orache sour soup (ciorba de loboda, which is excellent), squash sour soup (both at 4 RON) and pheasant soup with dumplings (5 RON). Also excellent is the chicken soup, the country version, or the Nicoresti sour soup - an ambiguous combination between fish stew, chicken soup and soup a la grec. Difficult to describe, but simple enough to eat.
The main course requires some deep thinking. For example, you could try the chicken dish with peas or green beans at 9 RON, the mushroom stew - 6 RON, peas or green beans stew - 6 RON or even the spinach with eggs at 6,5 RON.
The feeling you get is this is what your grandma would make. What other restaurant serves spinach or beans stew? For those who don't care about the latest ZONE diet, we have the leg of pork with beans (17 RON) - HUGE, we saw one at the gentleman next to us - , roasted pig (12 RON), hunter ribs (12 RON).
Or we could order the duck. The drumsticks with cabbage are very good and they're about 15 RON, or if you want the breast, it's 33 RON. The rabbit with olives is also delicious, a bit spicy and well seasoned. Though we haven't tried them, we heard the ram steaks are worth it, but for next time we're gonna try mamaliga with nettles. You can also try the "beef back-bone" for 12 RON.
If you care for desert, you can choose between cheese cake with raisins (3,5 RON), pancakes (with nuts, hazelnuts, green plums, chocolate) or baked apples with honey (3 RON). For something to drink, you cannot miss the must (2,5), the wine or palinca.
The prices are not very high, and a complete meal will set you back about 30 RON. In conclusion, the meals are very good and varied. It is a place (especially upstairs or in the wine cellar) where you can take any foreigner and have him experience for himself romanian cuisine. It isn't really appropriate for romantic first dates (imagine this pick-up line: "Come on babe, let's grab a leg of pork with green beans").
The address for Nicoresti is Str. Toamnei nr. 14 (corner of Maria Rosetti). Tel.: 021 211 24 80, 021 211 13 34
